Monday, June 28, 2010

First, for those of you, who like me are following ISTE from afar, you can follow the Twitter feed in this neat “newspaper” format.
Next, I’ve spent the last weekend nursing a summer cold (bleech) and working on updating my portfolio. The

Media Advisories

U.S. Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Russlynn Ali will hold a media conference call at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 29, to discuss the use of electronic book readers in higher education and their impact on students with disabilities.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and his wife Karen will launch the Department's Let's Read. Let's Move. summer enrichment series on Tuesday, June 29 from 12 – 1:30 p.m. at the U.S. Department of Education's Lyndon Baines Johnson headquarters building's outdoor plaza in Washington, D.C..

Kevin Jennings, assistant deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, will share the Department's plans for helping create safe school learning environments at the New England Center for School Climate & Learning's seminar "How Schools are Preventing Bullying, Building Respect & Engaging All Students" on Tuesday, June 29 in Meredith,

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will give remarks at the Institute of Education Science's (IES) fifth annual research conference June 29 in National Harbor, Md. IES is the research, evaluation and statistics arm of the Department.

John Burge was a dirty Chicago cop who tortured people to get convictions. He got those convictions and innocent people when to prison.
He committed his crimes in the 80s. And those who knew about it, or could do something about it, did nothing. Richard Daley, the present pathetic Mayor of my city was State’s Attorney at the time and could have

'Save Portland PE' campaign makes a fast, well-funded splash

A coalition of physical education-loving health and sports groups have put together a splashy "Save Portland PE" campaign complete with a professional poll, a full-page newspaper ad and a radio advertising blitz.

Made up of groups including the Oregon Medical Association, the Trail Blazers, Nike and Providence Health Services, the coalition is trumpeting the results of its weekend poll, conducted by the respected firm Davis, Hibbitts & Mighhall. The poll found 86 percent of Portland residents want the school board to spend money from reserves rather than cut PE.

Smith recommended cutting 66 full-time positions from elementary and middle schools to save $6 million. She said principals strongly favor cutting a uniform elective offering from all the schools -- and physical education is the only program offered in nearly every elementary and K-8 school and the only elective that involves more than about 25 teaching positions.

The Physical Education for All Kids, or PEAK, coalition has existed for several years to push for more physical education in all Oregon schools. It sprang into action as soon as it heard Smith's kill-PE proposal, with many of its leaders working long hours through the weekend to spur public input against the plan, said Drew Mahalic, executive director of the Oregon Sports Authority Foundation

Teachers at the only two schools on Rikers Island learned today that their schools will close next year. In their stead, new school will open — one with a smaller and possibly new set of teachers.
The change is part of a wider attempt to end programs under the city’s alternative schools office, known as District 79, that city officials believe are ineffective, Department of Education officials said today. Earlier this year, the city announced it was also closing its only school designed to transition students from detention back into mainstream high schools.
“Despite some of our best efforts, we’re not making the gains for the students in some of the specialized programs,” said Timothy Lisante, District 79’s deputy superintendent for corrections and detentions.
In an interview today, Lisante and District 79 Superintendent Cami Anderson said that consolidating the two programs would allow for smoother day-to-day operations of the school. Restarting the program will also give the

When the school year came to a close at 11:30 a.m. today, so too did the city’s infamous “rubber rooms,” the reassignment centers for teachers the city says are unfit for the classroom.
Like all teachers, teachers awaiting trial on misconduct or incompetence charges don’t have to work over the summer. Because of a deal the city and teachers union struck in April, those whose cases are still pending at the end of the summer will report for duty Sept. 7 not to a rubber room but to a school or district office, where

Judge: Minimum Grade Ban Applies To Report Cards

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ― Students in Texas must get the grades they earn and not an inflated score on report cards under a new state law that bans minimum grade policies, a judge decided Monday in a ruling that backed arguments from state education officials.

Eleven school districts sued Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott over his interpretation of the law, which he said should apply to class assignments and report cards. The districts, most of them in the Houston area, said it should only apply to classroom assignments.

Some districts have long had policies that establish minimum grades of 50, 60 or even 70. That means if a student failed and earned a zero, his or her grade would be automatically brought up to the minimum score.

The schools contend that not allowing students a grade below 50, for example, gives them room to improve and eventually receive course credit, since one low score could bring down

While on the surface this looks like a re-capture of two instructional days, it is actually much more than that. English teachers have to invent what amounts to a genre study to prep kids for this most inauthentic experience: the standardized writing assessment.